Welcome Home
by skywalkersamidala
Summary: Anakin Skywalker closes his eyes on the face of his son. When he opens them again, he is in Naboo, and someone is waiting for him.
As the mask comes off, Vader—Anakin—truly sees the world for the first time in over twenty years. And yet, he doesn't spare it a glance, instead focusing only on the young man before him who, in Anakin's final moments, has become his world.

Luke looks at him with such sadness, and Anakin smiles, ignoring the pain it causes him. He wants to reassure him, to let him know that he is at peace with the fate that awaits him, and Luke responds by placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Anakin drinks in the sight of his son, wanting to savor every last moment with him. He has Anakin's blue eyes, his light hair, and yet Anakin thinks there's something of Padmé's soft kindness about his face.

 _Padmé_. Vader had spent years suppressing thoughts of her, but at last Anakin freely lets the memories of her beauty, her warmth, her smile return to him as he gazes at the child they should have raised together. _I will be reunited with you soon, my love._

"Now, go, my son," Anakin says feebly, marveling at the sound of his own voice unaltered by the mask he had worn for so long. "Leave me."

Luke shakes his head. "No, you're coming with me. I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you."

"You already have, Luke," Anakin says. He feels his time growing short, and he needs to let Luke know how much his undeserved empathy, his unconditional love means to him. "You were right. You were right about me."

He thinks then of the princess of Alderaan. Leia. She had seemed oddly familiar when they had met on the Death Star, and Anakin recognizes now that it was because she looked so much like Padmé. He should have known, should have sensed that she was their daughter, and he is pained to realize that he will never be able to look on her while knowing who she really is. He doesn't expect her to ever forgive the things he's done the way Luke has, but still Anakin has to give her a final message, father to daughter. "Tell your sister you were right."

Luke is fighting back tears, and Anakin gives him one last smile. He can feel reality beginning to slip away, and he closes his eyes, grateful that death is finally coming for him, and that his son is the last thing he will ever see. Distantly, he hears Luke calling out to him, but it is eclipsed by the sound of rushing water.

Anakin opens his eyes. He is in Naboo, in the meadow by the falls where he and Padmé had picnicked once, a lifetime ago. He breathes in the fresh air, sunlight warm on his skin, and sensations once taken for granted are now a miracle to the man who has been trapped inside a machine for so long.

He lifts his hands, both whole again for the first time since he was nineteen, and curls and uncurls his fingers in awe. Anakin reaches up to touch his own face, feeling the smooth, unscarred skin there. When he smiles, it is as effortless a motion as it had been in his youth.

Then, he hears the voice that has haunted his dreams for some twenty-odd years. "I've missed you, my love."

Anakin turns, and he is overwhelmed with emotion as he sees her standing before him, looking exactly as he remembers her, dark hair unbound and tumbling freely about her shoulders. "Padmé," he whispers, and she smiles.

She approaches until she stands only a few inches from him, and she reaches out to take his hand. Anakin feels tears slide down his cheeks as he sees the love in her eyes, remembering the last time he had looked at her. She had been weeping at the monster he had become, begging him to stop as he crushed the air from her lungs. "I'm so sorry, Padmé," he sobs. "I'm so sorry."

Padmé raises her other hand to brush the tears from his face. She doesn't say "it's all right," because they both know it isn't. Instead she says, "I forgive you." She pulls him into her arms and holds him tight as he cries. "It's over now. It's all over."

At last Anakin lifts his head to look at her again. He wants to ask how she could possibly forgive him, after everything he's done, but she is looking at him with such warmth, and he has missed her so, so much. So instead he says nothing, only reaches out to hesitantly rest his hand on her cheek. He remembers the first words he ever spoke to her, asking if she was an angel. Now, he thinks, she truly is one.

Padmé leans forward and gently pulls his head towards her until their foreheads are resting against each other. Anakin looks into the dark brown eyes so very like their daughter's. He wonders if Padmé has been watching over Luke and Leia all these years. He will ask her later, ask her to tell him everything about their children's lives, but for right now, he is content to simply be in her presence once again.

She smiles at him then. There is a touch of sadness for all they have lost, but there is also joy at finally being reunited. "Welcome home, Ani."


End file.
